Squabble at Ranchi University takes a communal turn

It is a war of words that has taken a communal pitch. The simmering tension between the vice-chancellor (VC) and the pro vice-chancellor (pro-VC) of Ranchi University has become a no-holds barred battle for supremacy.

On October 10, VC D.P. Gupta created a flutter in academic circles when he lodged a complaint with the Ranchi Deputy Commissioner (DC) charging pro-VC M.K. Hasan with making a speech in a mosque in the city to incite communal feelings.

A week later, another complaint was lodged - this time against Gupta - in the court of the chief judicial magistrate in Ranchi seeking legal action against the VC for hurting the sentiments of the minority community, which is a punishable offence. The complainant, Alquama Shibli, Imam of Jama Masjid, Doranda, said in his petition that only the Imam made speeches in mosques, that too, strictly religious discourses.

Hasan concurs with Shibli. Denying Gupta's charge, he says he never visited the mosque referred to in the complaint. But Gupta has stuck to his guns, claiming he had been alerted about the "inflammatory speech" by his Muslim friends.

The stand-off between the VC and the pro-VC is several months old. With the state Government and Governor A.R. Kidwai, also the chancellor of the university, yet to respond to this unseemly public bickering, the animosity between the two has degenerated into a communal issue.

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